Railway-post-office-car construction.



G. R. HARRISON, DEO'D. L r MQLEAN ADMINISTRATOR D}; Bolus NON RAILWAY POST OFFICE GAR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION rmm APR 29 1912 3 Z g'f E man/ Er ITED STATES PATENT onrron.

7 CHARLES R. HARRISON, DECEASED, LATE OF FONI) DU LAC, WISCONSIN, BY LAUGHLIN F. MGLEAN, ADMINISTRATOR JDE BONIS NON, OF FOND DU LAG, WISCONSIN.

' RAILWAY-POST-OFFIGE-CAR CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed April 29, 1912. Serial No. 693,802.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that CHARLES R. HARRISON, late a citizen of the United States of America, deceased, who last'resided at Fond du Lac, in the county of Fond du Lac and State of Wisconsin, invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Post-Oflice- Car Constructions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in railway post-office car construction and particularly to improvements in the mail-bag supports or mail-bag racks used in such cars; and an object of this invention is to provide a mailbag support which will be simple in construction, comparatively cheap in manufacture and first cost of installation and efficient, safe, reliable, durable and convenient in operation and use.

Another object of this invention is the provision in a mail-bag support of a railway post-oflice car of means which permit the ready release of the supporting rail from which the mail-bags are commonly suspended and the ready adjustment of that rail in position; a third object of this invention is the provision in a mail-bag support of means which securely lock the mail-bag supporting rail to the wall of the car and at the same time permit the rail to be readily released and readily adjusted in position.

In the drawings illustrating the principle of this invention and the best mode now known of applying that principle, F igure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of the interior'of a railway post-office car embodying this invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the bracket; Fig. 3 is a central vertical section through the same on the line A--A of Fig. 2; Fig. 4: is a horizontal section of the bracket on the line BB of Fig. 2; and

' Fig. 5 is a side elevation showing the jaws of the bracket separated to permit the removal of the mail-bag supporting rod.

Tothe side a of the car are secured the brackets b by meansof screws 0 which pass through theback d of the bracket, from the top of which projects forwardly a centrally-disposed stationary or fixed jaw 6. Below the latter the bracket is formed with a pair of parallel lengthwise-extending walls f the front edge of each of which is formed with an inwardly extending flange or ledges f separated by a slot 9. Upon the walls f is mounted a box-like slide it the top of which is formed with a jaw i and in the front face of which near the bottom there is formed a hole j through which and the slot 9 projects the threaded shank 7a of a clamping bolt m the head m of which is adapted to lie against the inner faces of the ledges f. Upon the outer threaded end of the shank k is mounted a wing-nut n by means of which the bolt may be tightened so as to secure the runner or slide it in its adjusted position. Between the jaws e, 2' passes a mail-bag supporting rail 0 from which are suspended the mail-bags 79.

In the event of a railway wreck, the rails 0 will be held tightly to the walls of the car and the clerks will thereby be protected from injury. Again, after an accident, it is often desirable to extricate the mail bags from the tangle into which they are thrown and for this purpose to remove the mailbag supporting-rails 0 from their fastenings b, and this may be readily done by giving the wing-nut n a half-turn, whereupon the movable jaw i will drop away from the fixed jaw e and there will thus be left an interval between the jaws e, 2' through which the rail 0 may be removed and the necessity of removing the brackets is avoided,a necesssity entailed by the construction of prior structures of this character. Furthermore, it will be obvious that by merely loosening the wing-nut n the position of the rail 0 may be changed in a vertical direction.

Claim:

A railway post-office car having a mailbag-supporting rail; a device for attaching the latter to the side of the car; said device beingformed with a stationary jaw and with guide-walls having inwardly extending flanges separated from each other by a adjusted position; said rail passing between 23d day of April, D. 1912, in the presence of the two undersigned Witnesses.

LAUGHLIN F. MOLEAN, 1

Aclmtnistrator'de bom'enon with will anslot and being provided with a slide mounted on said guide-Walls and formed With a jaw; and mechanism coiiperating with said guide-Walls for fastening said slide in its and being held by said jaws and being readson, deceased.

ily releasable therefrom through the dis- Witnesses: V placement of said slide. V LAURA BUTLER, Signed at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, this (1-H. ECKE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gomniiss ioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. V

' newed 0f the estate of Charles RH'arri- 

